March 7, 1913

*[Editorial Note: This refers to the resolution "On Property in the Hands of the Former Holder and on Financial Accounts," adopted by the VI (Prague) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (see V. I. Lenin. Complete Collected Works, Vol. 21, pp. 153-154).*

26039

LETTER TO LAWYER J. DOUCEAU DE LA HAYE

Cracow, 7. III. 1913

Dear Comrade,

I have received your letter of 28. II. 1913¹ and hasten to inform you that I am prepared to pay you 300 francs for your labor.

The editorial revision of page 1 that you propose — ("Although agreements concluded between the various factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party do not constitute juridical acts, we nevertheless, in the interest of justice, shall examine them swiftly" etc.) — we accept.

(1°) Thus, on this point agreement has been reached.

(2°) The letter of Mrs. Ignatjeva will be appended in full to the text of the conclusion. The letter that you wish to have — confirmation that Mrs. Ignatjeva is indeed the donor to the Bolsheviks — I am sending you in the enclosure to this letter*.

There remains only the question of how to reconcile this letter of Mrs. Ignatjeva with the following passage in your conclusion:

"Taking into account that Lenin's authority as representative of the Bolsheviks was never contested V ~ * * and that the Bolsheviks' original ownership of these funds was never disputed again..."

We propose, first, to add 
"a proof of which are the letters addressed to Messrs. Mehring, Kautsky, and Zetkin to Lenin (Ulyanov)..."
— and, second, to strike out the final phrase [after all, you yourself say above: "it does not matter that the property was contested." Consequently, it was contested, but this fact has no significance whatever, because it is proven that Lenin was precisely the owner] — and replace it with the letter of Mrs. Ignatjeva in such manner that the revision would be understood roughly as follows:

* See the following document.
** These and the following marks were made in the manuscript by V. I. Lenin.

"Letters addressed to all three arbitrators — Messrs. Mehring, Kautsky, and Zetkin — to Lenin (Ulyanov) convincingly prove that Lenin's authority as representative of the Bolsheviks was never contested. As for the original ownership of these funds, the letter on the reverse of this page proves that the Bolsheviks' ownership of these funds cannot be disputed.

Mrs. Ignatjeva, the sister of the late Mr. Schmidt, who bequeathed these funds to the Bolsheviks, fulfilled the will of her deceased brother. Mrs. Ignatjeva writes as follows:
... in full*...

Taking all this into account, we see no argument that could prevent the return of these funds to Mr. Ulyanov (Lenin)."

(3°) As regards the concluding part, we accept your proposal to formulate reservation 1 as follows: "the agreement of January 1910 has no juridical force."

As regards reservations 2 and 3, we do not have their text. But we hope that it will be very easy for you to reach complete agreement with Comrade Kamenev (M. Rosenfeld, 11. Rue Roli. Paris XIV) on this point, which is of secondary importance.

I am sending a copy of this letter to Mr. Rosenfeld, to whom the Central Committee has entrusted the task of paying you 300 francs for your labor and of receiving the conclusion signed by you and the documents left with you for safekeeping.

Accept, dear comrade,
my socialist greetings.

N. Lenin (V. Ulyanov)

Cracow, 7. III. 1913

Dear Comrade,

I hereby certify that Mrs. Ignatjeva, who has written to you regarding the Bolshevik funds, is precisely the former Schmidt, the sister of the late Mr. Schmidt, who bequeathed his property to the Bolsheviks. Thus it is precisely Mrs. Ignatjeva, who fulfilled the will of her deceased brother, who is the donor to the Bolsheviks. She may

* V. I. Lenin proposed reproducing in full the letter of E. P. Ignatjeva (Schmidt).